Otherworldly Bunnies By Annie Stegg Gerard

writing these are addictive

thinking about how victor was so horrified and disgusted by his creation because when he animated it, it didn’t instantly heal itself. that’s why the creature was so repugnant to him—he was mismatched moving parts, lacerations sewn shut. when victor created something, the open wound of his mother’s death didn’t instantly heal itself.

I love that the Prince that was Promised prophecy involves a mistranslation. Of course it could also be a princess--gender is only of the most inconsistent grammatical rules across language boundaries.

It seems all gruff and barbaric likewise that the Dothraki language has no word for 'thank you,' but why would it? The major plot point involving Dothraki culture is that gifts are given and repaid in their own time. If you pass someone horsemeat around the campfire, the action is not complete until they hand you fermented mare's milk a week later. Perhaps then you then say some polite phrase which we do not see and which does not translate into English, indicating the debt has been resolved. Language both forms and is formed by the society in which it lives.

Here's a question: when the characters in Westeros see 'lion lizards' and 'spicy peppers stuffed with cheese,' what are they describing? Unsurprisingly lion-lizards, the predatory, reptilian, swamp-dwelling sigil of house Reed, seem to be alligators, which get their English name from the Spanish for 'the lizard.' Peppers stuffed with cheese are just what they sound like, though in English we call them chiles rellenos, a name borrowed from Spanish. As the Spanish language has no presence and no analogue in ASoIaF, Westeros has to describe these concept using its own words and its own concepts.

Now imagine we have a character whose name is a common noun, being discussed with someone who does not speak the language that noun exists in. The name might be shared phonetically, or it might be translated to the new language--especially if, say, the communication happens more on the level of concepts than on the level of words. For a name like Bloodraven this is easy enough. All languages have a word for blood, and all have a word for shiny black corvids, although they may or may not distinguish them from crows. But what about a name that's a little more specific? A culture that's extremely tree-focused have a word for every part of a tree, for example, and they may have a name for every part of every type of tree. But when translating a name meaning 'two month old bud on the upper branch of a weirwood' into the Common Tongue, for example, perhaps the best translation they could come up with would just be Leaf.

Bran is another example. Someone from the North would know it's a nickname of Brandon. Someone without that context might assume it refers to the edible husk removed from grain. And finally, someone whose culture eats a grain without a husk that needs removing might understand Bran's name as simply "Corn! Corn! Corn!"

A Star Is Born

kids used to bully her in school for being too pretty, they chased her around yelling “pretty face, pretty face”

i finished this pretty princess and added colour, it’s super different from my usual style but i’m very proud of it:)

wpuld love to hear your gripes about striker's design!

aah it’s mainly the fact that he looks so cool and yet way too busy. i’m used to viv’s maximalist style and for the most part i like it and don’t think character designs should be simplified because this is the show’s style—but striker has too much stuff going on with his clothes in particular.

i really liked how he looks vaguely coyote-ish, so it’s mostly his clothes for me—there are at least 3 different shades of grey in his outfit and it made it difficult for me to picture him when he wasn’t onscreen other than coyote with cowboy hat and big teeth. there’s also a lot going on with his tail—if it were a solid color without the stripes and spikes, i’d be able to follow its movement better and distinguish it from his accessories.

he also doesn’t really pop out from the wrath environment in general, having such muted colors, which i think could be intentional to show him as being much more ‘native’ to there than moxxie, but the same thing happens in other places, too—grey just really doesn’t stand out.

so yeah i think it’s just the dissonance between the fact that i think he’s really cool/yay snake cowboy so i really like some of his design, but also that his clothing is too busy without much contrast and there are so many stripes and layers which make it difficult to follow the minutiae of his movements!

be cunning, and full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed.

The Warren of Watership Down, a gift for @youremysunshine8

Elia and Lyanna because I had a little time to think about it💙